Toespraak Financial Action Task Force
Your Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, Mr. President, Excellencies, ambassadors, distinguished delegates,
It is a pleasure to welcome you all here in Amsterdam on behalf of the Dutch Government and to address the Plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It is also a great honour to be present at the 20th anniversary of this important international body and to introduce Her Royal Highness, Princess Máxima of the Netherlands.
Before doing that, let me share with you that for many years the Dutch Government has attached great importance to collectively achieving the objectives of the FATF. The Netherlands were present when the G7-chair France called a first meeting on Money Laundering, September 1989 in Paris. This meeting took place under the guidance of the now European Central Bank (ECB) President, Jean-Claude Trichet. It is a distinct pleasure for me to acknowledge the presence today of one of the intellectual fathers of the FATF – and its first President – Mr. Denis Samuel-Lajeunesse from France.
The FATF has evolved almost beyond recognition since its creation. It has developed a focussed but flexible mandate: apart from working on Money Laundering, the tragic events of 9/11 forced the FATF to address Terrorist Financing as well.
Simultaneously, the FATF has managed to enlarge the group of jurisdictions that agreed to be committed to the mandate: from 15 at the Paris meeting to over 180 today. This is a huge network and an unprecedented achievement in international collaboration. The FATF can be proud of its unique structure of 8 regional bodies worldwide that provide for a high level of involvement and ownership of the FATF principles and activities. The presence today of the Presidents of these regional bodies adds an extra dimension to this 20 year anniversary: thank you very much for coming to Amsterdam.
Several of the Presidents who have led the FATF in achieving these impressive results are also with us today. I extend a warm welcome to them as well.
Today the FATF is a strong and dynamic task force. And we need a strong FATF, since it is highly unlikely that victory will be declared against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the foreseeable future. It is therefore important that the FATF is preparing for its future role. It will be crucial that the right format will be found for future evaluations: more focus on law enforcement and an adequate risk-based approach will be important concepts within that context.
The FATF’s work is essential. A powerful and well-functioning FATF is necessary, in order to prevent a loss of confidence in a reliable economy and reliable business transactions.
In order to realise this important objective, the countries affiliated with the FATF also have to make significant efforts themselves. For example, in recent years the Netherlands has been successful in making it very clear to the investigative and prosecution agencies that crime should not pay. There have been, for example, considerable investments made in measures and specific knowledge at the relevant organisations in order to achieve successful confiscation of criminal proceeds. The fight against organised crime and financial-economic crime, including money laundering, has also been greatly intensified.
An important element of this intensification is the so-called ‘integrated approach’. Characteristic of this approach is that there is not only attention for the criminal side of the case, but also for the administrative and tax-related aspects. This means there has to be close cooperation between partners such as the Public Prosecution Service, the Police, FIU-Nederland, the Tax and Customs Administration, financial regulators and private parties, These partners share information and decide in specific cases which sanction or measure would be most effective.
This integral approach has since become well-established in several places. A good example is the Emergo project in the Red Light District, an area in the centre of Amsterdam that is faced with prostitution, human trafficking, the drug trade and other forms of organised crime. The aim of the project is to chart the enabling structure for organised crime in the Red Light District and to dismantle it to the fullest extent possible with the help of both criminal law and administrative law measures. The results of this successful approach are clearly visible for everyone. The project consequently received ample attention in the global media.
Back to the FATF. The attention and recognition that the G20 is giving to the work of the FATF is encouraging. I welcome the fact that the FATF is already giving positive consideration to the call being made by the G20 for additional attention on issues related to corruption.
The G20 is also addressing another subject that is highly relevant to the work of the FATF: Financial Inclusion. For me, it is a great honour and a pleasure that Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands is present to address the important subject of Financial Inclusion, in her capacity as United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.
Thank you for your attention, and once again welcome to the beautiful and historical capital of the Netherlands. I wish you an enjoyable and successful meeting.